How to run cordova plugins in the background?

Thomas M. Tveten picture Thomas M. Tveten · Mar 13, 2014 · Viewed 23.5k times · Source

Im making an application based on phonegap (cordova). I have tested it some times, and lately I saw a message in xcode that said "Plugin should use a background thread." So is it possible to make cordova plugins run in the background of the app? if so, please tell how. Thanks!

Answer

jcesarmobile picture jcesarmobile · Mar 14, 2014

A background thread isn't the same that executing code while the app is in background, a background thread is used to don't block the UI while you execute a long task.

Example of background thread on iOS

- (void)myPluginMethod:(CDVInvokedUrlCommand*)command
    {
        // Check command.arguments here.
        [self.commandDelegate runInBackground:^{
            NSString* payload = nil;
            // Some blocking logic...
            CDVPluginResult* pluginResult = [CDVPluginResult resultWithStatus:CDVCommandStatus_OK messageAsString:payload];
            // The sendPluginResult method is thread-safe.
            [self.commandDelegate sendPluginResult:pluginResult callbackId:command.callbackId];
        }];
    }

Example of background thread on android

@Override
    public boolean execute(String action, JSONArray args, final CallbackContext callbackContext) throws JSONException {
        if ("beep".equals(action)) {
            final long duration = args.getLong(0);
            cordova.getThreadPool().execute(new Runnable() {
                public void run() {
                    ...
                    callbackContext.success(); // Thread-safe.
                }
            });
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }